Recap: Penny couldn’t make sense of the contradictory claims by Dr. Wei and his alleged daughter, Sunny. She decided to exfiltrate Sunny first and ask questions later.
Chapter 10: Too pretty to kill
Gary did not agree to Penny’s outrageous request to hack the whole goddamn city’s CCTV system. Using too many Agency resources would make the word spread and defeat the mole-hunting purpose. Instead, he calls up a local operative, Eric Song. The guy is in his mid-40s, the sole employee in the Xi’an CIA station. He used to be a legend in the field, having broken the record for informant recruitment in China. But he’s one of those who don’t age well. A few years ago, he started to gain weight considerably and even had a mini-stroke that blinded one of his eyes. The Agency offered him a station chief position in Taiwan, which he declined right away. He argued that he would die faster if sitting in front of a safe desk, which may not be wrong. Eventually, Gary agreed to keep him in China, but in a relatively slow city.
“I’m sorry, Eric,” says Gary on the phone, “I can’t tell you exactly what’s going on. But I need your help with an emergency, and you can’t file any report to the Agency.”
“Was it you rattling them, old man? The police here are going nuts. Patrol cars everywhere. I thought you liked to keep a low profile.”
“Low profile, huh. Too late for that. Did you intercept anything?”
“They’re looking for a man and two women. The way they panic, I thought they were catching some Covid patients or something.”
“It’s a long story. If you’re uncomfortable doing this personal favor for me, you’d better tell me now.”
“You put me in this hellhole for two years and now you’re asking for a personal favor?”
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